Israel’s new Dolphin II-class submarines are the largest undersea craft built in Germany since the Second World War, and when they reach active service they’re expected to take their place among the world’s most effective subs. Three submarines are in various stages of construction at ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems in Kiel, Germany – the TANIN, RAHAV,…

Updated with additional images Aug. 13, 2014 Both builders of the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships are busy cranking out new hulls, aiming at what could be a banner year for the program in 2015. On August 5 in Mobile, Alabama, Austal USA rolled the Independence-class MONTGOMERY (LCS 8) out of its building shed onto…

1899, the glory days of empire, when Pax Britannica ruled the waves and the Germans and Americans were viewed as upstarts. For awhile, a running flash point for those conflicting interests flared up in the middle of the Pacific, in Samoa. Apia harbor in 1889 almost became the scene of open warfare between Germany and…

AQUITAINE (D 650) and NORMANDY (D 651), the first two FREMM frigates built for the French Navy, conducted interoperability tests off the Atlantic coast on June 24. The event was marked with this video from shipbuilder DCNS. The rapidly-spinning pyramid-shaped object atop the forward superstructure is the Herakles multi-function S-band radar from Thales. France plans…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is a man who gets around. The daily annals of the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are filled with his exploits, accomplishments, various deeds and, of course, honors and acclamations. Recently, Kim added a spice of variety to his travels by going…

In the small town of Bath, Maine, tucked up along the picturesque Kennebec River, one of the most striking warships ever conceived is under construction. The design of the future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) takes stealth to the extreme, and it’s no exaggeration to say no one has ever seen a ship like this. Six hundred…

It isn’t often a new military helicopter is “revealed” to the public for the first time, so it’s a real event whenever it takes place. Sikorsky Aircraft staged such a happening May 5, when it rolled out the first flying CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter, moments after Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Amos announced the new bird’s…

Yeah, we know, the Chinese finally have an aircraft carrier. Pretty kewl ship too – if you like ski jumps and non-nuclear propulsion. Not to mention yellow fighters. In support of the 65th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy – or the PLAN in naval shorthand – the government-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China has come…

The US Navy’s Mark 60 Griffin missile system was declared operational March 25 after successful live-fire tests from patrol coastal (PC) ships assigned to the Fifth Fleet. The weapon gives the small PCs a punch they’ve sorely lacked. This newly-released Navy video shows Griffin launches from tests on March 20 and 21, along with the…

The NORMANDIE (D 651) is the second FREMM (Frégate Européemes Multi-Missions) frigate built by DCNS for the French Navy. She first went to sea in October 2013. DCNS put together a video of the ship underway in the Bay of Biscay on March 7 as she finished up a third set of sea trials. The Herakles…